Soldier's Tale--Nicholas

“Dear Olivia, it’s extremely cold down here in Virginia. We have heard no news about
the confederates in a long while and are doubting they’ll fall through with their plans. I love you very much Olie tell William and Liam I miss them and love them very much. I know young Will is still in Georgia working to be an officer so if you could give him the good news it would be much obliged. P.S. Captain told you to take it easy on my when i get home”Love, your dearest husband, William H. Bradley. 

The lights are low and I can still hear the privates squawking a storm about how to correctly put together a rifle. Being a sergeant in the army gets very routine. You wake up, grab some breakfast, make sure another fight doesn’t break out between the bloodthirsty enlisted young men, and then maybe play a game of checkers. However this night felt different, the air was colder, the beds were stiffer, and the moon was darker. I try to rest my eyes but I can’t get the thoughts of my family running around our house in New York out of my head. But like my mother used to say’ “Will, just go ‘head and count them sheeps, you’ll be fine.” Finally some rest. 

“Billy! Wake up you fool, you didn’t forget about our Sunday plans now did ya’?” That’s captain two beers a loud old man that loves everything about war and the army.

“Awe capt. I’m sorry, I just figured you weren’t ready to lose again in checkers now was ya’?”
“You’re on Bradley.” 
 
Captain Two Beers loved checkers, I think he loved it so much because it reminded him of his favorite thing in the planet, war. He would always exclaim, “you know Billy, Checkers is just like war, you have to think about when the enemy is going to attack but you first must make a move.” Now I thought this was ironic because Captain always said, “we would attack after the Graybacks invaded us.” 

The game as usual takes forever because I never take a shot that will affect me in the end. Captain two beers is surprisingly the same way and our games always run half a chance for both of us. Then capt. Soon starts to scream about how I took a piece off the board and how that king wasn’t right there then boom... 

Captain two beers waits, “Did you hear that Bill? It felt as if a quake had hit our land.” Then another roar of a cannon firing sounds off, and in the background we hear, “The gray’s are approaching! 

The day has finally come, the anxious privates run out and the fire scatters all across the land. Yet I can’t move, the bodies lie and the ashes rain down. I’ve been here before but nothing like this. General Grant shakes me ferociously, “Bradley you fool! Grab your rifle and get moving.” My feet have never felt heavier, my mind has never forgotten how to cock my weapon, and I’ve forgotten how horrific the sight of war is. Running like a mad man I see the bodies of our men pile like bricks, and I hear each scream knowing they’re not coming home, which made me think about home. I finally get to my position and as the bullets pass by I’m only thinking

about my wife and two grown boys. However courage takes over and I remember why I came back in the first place, to serve my country as if I were the only man left standing. I peek my head and see a young man mistakenly showing his back to our line and crack! The weapon sounds, and the delay is heart-wrenching, than soon the body falls. It fell like a newly grown tree cut down from a careless lumberjack. The battle continues yet I don’t fire my weapon again, I look at the body of the young boy that just hit the ground and my eyes cannot stray away. Finally, the smoke clears and the Graybacks retreat, the first victory for the North yet my mind won’t allow me to celebrate because my eyes are seemingly fixed on this boy. As we walk the grounds I get closer and closer, the face gets more familiar and the dried tears from him crying from the pain are visible. I fall to my knees and scream the most heartbroken scream that has taken place on this field. In the distance General Grant and the Captain run to my need not knowing what has hit me and yet, they stop running. I hear the footsteps stop and General Grant saying to me, “Come on Billy it’s just another gray.” and Captain Two Beers with a sense of disparity, “General that’s Bradley’s son Will.” and Grant with a pause states, “Captain I believe it is time Sergeant Bradley can return home.”